


you're just the last of the real ones

by etherealthings



Category: Tiny Meat Gang (Band)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-10-29 00:35:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20787659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/etherealthings/pseuds/etherealthings
Summary: cody and noel have a disagreement while editing the new that's cringe video.





	you're just the last of the real ones

Today was a work day. Today was a “stare at Noel’s computer screen for three hours straight and forget to eat” kind of day. 

Cody and Noel had been arduously editing the newest That’s Cringe episode. After the unfavorable response the last video got, they both wanted to make sure this video was absolutely flawless.

“Chill out on the sound effects in that bit,” Cody commented, grabbing the mouse and rewinding a few seconds. 

“Right there. I think the joke lands on its own,” he said, replaying the few seconds in question. 

Noel furrowed his eyebrows and sighed. “Dude. You’re the one that said you wanted to add a sound effect in the first place,” he grumbled. 

“Well, I’ve changed my mind,” Cody replied quickly, then pressed the delete key. 

Noel rolled his eyes and continued scrubbing through the video. 

“What about this? Right here, do you think this needs a cut? I think it does,” he pointed out. 

“I think we have too many fuckin’ cuts already, man. I don’t want the video to be jumpy, ya know?” Cody explained. 

Noel let out yet another exasperated sigh and left the scene as is, without the extra cuts. 

Cody jostled Noel’s arm with his elbow and gave him a look. 

“What’s with all the sighing, huh? We could’ve had the editor do this one again.  _ But _ ...we both agreed to do it ourselves, remember?” he reminded him. 

“Shut up, I remember,” Noel snapped. “I’m just exhausted and my eyes feel like they’re about to bleed,” he mumbled, then rubbed his eyes with his knuckles.

Cody leaned back in his chair and was quiet for a few moments before Noel spoke up again. 

“I wanna keep this bit in,” Noel said, playing the scene he was referring to. 

Cody shook his head vehemently. “No way, man. That’s way over the line. If we include this bit, the video is just gonna be us, like, exaggerating how grossed out we are. We already did that in the last one,” he argued. 

Noel groaned and rubbed his temples. “Dude. You  _ never  _ wanna take it to the next level. You just want to keep the jokes where they are and not step outside of your comfort zone. Like, we have the chance to do something really hilarious and you won’t even--” he got cut off. 

Cody gave Noel a “are you fucking kidding me” type of look. “The video is going to get demonetized as is, I don’t want the fucking thing to be taken down!” he yelled, gesticulating wildly as he did so, which was indicative that he was trying hard to prove a point. 

“Why are you yelling? God, this is ridiculous,” Noel huffed, pushing his chair away from the desk and walking off into the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water. 

Cody relocated from his chair to lay face down on the couch, groaning into a pillow. 

Noel stood in the kitchen for a few minutes, contemplating. He and Cody had some creative differences, of course, but yelling over the editing of a That’s Cringe video? Not really worth it.

Cody heard Noel step back into the living room, and felt Ollie jump off of the couch to run up to his owner. That being said, he still didn’t move. 

“Cody,” Noel said, his voice gentle and apologetic. Cody still did not look up from his place on the couch. 

“Come on, bro. This is both of us against the problem, not us against each other,” he explained, setting down a second glass of water on the coffee table. 

Cody sighed and sat up, then rubbed his face. “This is literally driving us  _ crazy _ ,” he mumbled, letting out a deep breath and then biting on his lip. 

He then looked up at Noel, who was standing by the computer and holding Ollie in his arms. 

“Sorry for yelling at you,” Cody whispered. “I didn’t mean to get all snappy,” he admitted.

Noel nodded in forgiveness. “I was snappy with you too, man, I’m sorry for bitchin’ out.”

Cody nodded and gave a small shrug, then returned to his chair and scrubbed through the video again, for what was probably the thousandth time. 

“I really don’t think we should keep this joke. It’s very, very dark,” he sighed, looking over at Noel. 

Noel sat down and let Ollie lay in his lap. “Okay, that’s fine. Then I propose we add a cut right here, where I said we needed one,” he replied.

Cody smirked at the other man. “Looks like you’ve got yourself a deal, boss,” he said in some sort of attempt to do an Italian mob boss accent. 

“Bruh. That was so bad...please never, ever do that,” Noel said in between loud laughs. 

“Yeah, that was awful, sorry,” Cody agreed, laughing along. 

Thankfully, their little lover’s quarrel didn’t last long, as they were soon making each other laugh once again. 

\--

Eventually, the pair moved onto Noel’s couch with a laptop, where they rewatched the final cut of the video a few times, editing a few miniscule things here and there. 

By the time it was 8:30pm, Cody could barely keep his eyes open. He kept blinking rapidly to try to stay awake, but ultimately failed and fell asleep with his face squished against the couch. 

Noel didn’t notice, considering he was pretty used to talking a lot and having nobody respond immediately. He finally looked over to Cody to see the man drooling onto his couch. He gave him a bit of a shove and shook his shoulder. 

“Dude. Dude! Wake up, you need to watch the final cut so I can send it to you and you can post it tomorrow,” Noel said, looking at a very disoriented Cody. 

Cody rubbed his bleary eyes and nodded. “Mhm. Yeah, yeah. Play that shit, man,” he said, trying to sound awake and enthusiastic. 

Once again, they ran through the video a few times, making a few minor changes each time. Their eyes were burning and they were exhausted, but they both agreed that this video had to be perfect, so they kept working. 

\--

It was about 11:15pm when Aleena came home from a night out with her friends. She slipped her shoes off quietly, trying to shush Ollie when he ran up to her and barked at her excitedly. As she made her way into the living room, she realized the lights were still on, and figured that Noel was doing yet another late night working on Love Island or Suki, or any other one of his numerous projects. 

Aleena was quite surprised to see her boyfriend passed out on the couch with his open laptop on the floor, and even more surprised when she saw her boyfriend’s best friend asleep on the couch as well, with an arm and a leg hanging off onto the floor. 

She tried to conceal her laughter as she took a picture and sent it to Kelsey, then posted it onto her Instagram story with the caption “looks like the boyos worked themselves to death.” 

Aleena ultimately decided not to wake them since they looked so comfortable, and she knew that they probably  _ really  _ needed the sleep. She picked Noel’s laptop up off the floor and closed it, then placed it gently onto the coffee table. She then grabbed a fluffy blanket and draped it over the both of them, and dimmed the lights afterwards. 

Was it a bit weird that she was basically tucking her boyfriend and his best friend into bed? For any other person, yes. But for Cody and Noel, this actually seemed pretty in character. 

She scooped Ollie up into her arms and walked over to Noel, placing a kiss on his forehead before walking off to the bedroom and quietly shutting the door behind her. 

**Author's Note:**

> so meghan (paranormalbouquet) inspired me with her platonic fic to write a cute one of my own. I really love Cody and Noel's dynamic and I would die for Aleena so of course I added her in.  
Title is from the last of the real ones by fall out boy
> 
> discord is simone#1029 and twitter is shortkingcody :)


End file.
